During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observe a laboratory activity or base your answer on past visits. How does your CT conduct a typical laboratory activity? How does he or she open the activity and organize student groups? How do students learn what they're expected to do during the period? Reflect on your reading about inquiry and your experience with the NECAP inquiry task. How did the laboratory activity you observe prepare students for the type of activities that might show up on the NECAP in the future? What inquiry elements would you strengthen? What science practices do you want to stress when you're teaching?
-Observations:
While observing with Mr.Barnes I have noticed he has several different techniques working with his students. He has a very professional relationship with all of his students, addressing them at most times by last names instead of first names. However, when the class breaks down to groups or students have one on one conversations with him, Barnes makes those experiences more meaningful to students by using their first names. His students do see him as the authority figure in the classroom. He is addressed at all times as Mr.Barnes, not "Mr" or "Hey you". Mr.Barnes very much supports the concept of respect and encourages this in his students. He will not accept any yes or no questions answered by students saying "yea" or "yup", but only acknowledges their answer when a proper "yes" has been given.
During my last several visits I have been working on students with a Hot Air Balloon Lab, in which they have been working on constructing working hot air balloons. I wasn't present on the day the lab was introduced to the students, however students were given folders with reference material and ideas about how to create a functioning balloon. At the beginning of each lab period the teacher briefly reminds students of what needs to be finished and what steps they should be on with their projects, and then allows students to reconvene with their groups and work. During the period he patrols the room, offering help when needed and minimizing distractions and horse play among students. This was the first big lab for students, so Mr.Barnes let students pick a partner to work with, but in the future he will be choosing who works with who.
-Reflections:
I think that the way Mr.Barnes goes about gaining student respect slightly forcefully by not acknowledging them if they don't address him properly is a good idea. It shows students that they must show respect in order to receive respect. I think that mutual respect is one of the most important elements in a healthy classroom environment and I plan to also incorporate practices to encourage that in my own teaching. I feel the way the students perceive Mr.Barnes is slightly different than I hope to be perceived by my students. I think that it is good that they consider him the authority in the classroom, but I also feel like it would be positive for students to feel slightly closer with him. I know there is a proper distance in a student and teacher relationships but i also feel that it is necessary for students to feel comfortable approaching the teacher. I would like to foster good relationships with my students and hopefully acquire a proper distance where students respect me but still feel comfortable talking about important, fun, and exciting things in their lives.
I feel the Lab on Hot Air Balloons was a great tool to teach inquiry. Students were given some direction but had to construct their own method of finding a design that worked and discovering what made it work and why certain things wouldn't work. During the lab students had to create a design, explain why that design functioned, explore how hot air balloons worked and physically test their own designs. The process is very open ended, letting students do very individual projects while all learning the same concepts. This will be helpful with NECAP testing because it helps to foster inquiry thinking by having students create their own solutions to hypotheses they create, and also having to explain how and why their project functioned. This promotes reasoning skills, questioning and problem solving, all of which are needed skills to excel in future NECAP exams. I think that this type of exploratory learning is wonderful to use with students, and myself absolutely plan on using this type of activity to foster inquiry in my classroom. When I am teaching I will also be trying to expand students problem solving skills and construct the types of labs that make students use this type of thought process to work their own way to an acceptable result and understand the reasons behind it.
Class Topic: Physical Science/ Hot Air Balloons
Grade: 9
Observed by: Jennifer Cullen
-Observations:
While observing with Mr.Barnes I have noticed he has several different techniques working with his students. He has a very professional relationship with all of his students, addressing them at most times by last names instead of first names. However, when the class breaks down to groups or students have one on one conversations with him, Barnes makes those experiences more meaningful to students by using their first names. His students do see him as the authority figure in the classroom. He is addressed at all times as Mr.Barnes, not "Mr" or "Hey you". Mr.Barnes very much supports the concept of respect and encourages this in his students. He will not accept any yes or no questions answered by students saying "yea" or "yup", but only acknowledges their answer when a proper "yes" has been given.
During my last several visits I have been working on students with a Hot Air Balloon Lab, in which they have been working on constructing working hot air balloons. I wasn't present on the day the lab was introduced to the students, however students were given folders with reference material and ideas about how to create a functioning balloon. At the beginning of each lab period the teacher briefly reminds students of what needs to be finished and what steps they should be on with their projects, and then allows students to reconvene with their groups and work. During the period he patrols the room, offering help when needed and minimizing distractions and horse play among students. This was the first big lab for students, so Mr.Barnes let students pick a partner to work with, but in the future he will be choosing who works with who.
-Reflections:
I think that the way Mr.Barnes goes about gaining student respect slightly forcefully by not acknowledging them if they don't address him properly is a good idea. It shows students that they must show respect in order to receive respect. I think that mutual respect is one of the most important elements in a healthy classroom environment and I plan to also incorporate practices to encourage that in my own teaching. I feel the way the students perceive Mr.Barnes is slightly different than I hope to be perceived by my students. I think that it is good that they consider him the authority in the classroom, but I also feel like it would be positive for students to feel slightly closer with him. I know there is a proper distance in a student and teacher relationships but i also feel that it is necessary for students to feel comfortable approaching the teacher. I would like to foster good relationships with my students and hopefully acquire a proper distance where students respect me but still feel comfortable talking about important, fun, and exciting things in their lives.
I feel the Lab on Hot Air Balloons was a great tool to teach inquiry. Students were given some direction but had to construct their own method of finding a design that worked and discovering what made it work and why certain things wouldn't work. During the lab students had to create a design, explain why that design functioned, explore how hot air balloons worked and physically test their own designs. The process is very open ended, letting students do very individual projects while all learning the same concepts. This will be helpful with NECAP testing because it helps to foster inquiry thinking by having students create their own solutions to hypotheses they create, and also having to explain how and why their project functioned. This promotes reasoning skills, questioning and problem solving, all of which are needed skills to excel in future NECAP exams. I think that this type of exploratory learning is wonderful to use with students, and myself absolutely plan on using this type of activity to foster inquiry in my classroom. When I am teaching I will also be trying to expand students problem solving skills and construct the types of labs that make students use this type of thought process to work their own way to an acceptable result and understand the reasons behind it.
Class Topic: Physical Science/ Hot Air Balloons
Grade: 9
Observed by: Jennifer Cullen